Structure of Fellow Programme in Management
(FPM)
First Year (Compulsory
Course)
The
class-room course work is designed to provide an in-depth
knowledge in
management science, forestry,
environment and development management
in general, and the area of the specialisation of the
student in particular.
The
PGDFM first year courses provide grounding to the students
in functional areas of management
with application bias in forestry,
environment and development
context. The PGDFM graduates of IIFM, get exemption
from first year FPM courses.
| Term
I |
Term
I Courses |
(7.0
CU) |
| Term
II |
Term
II Courses |
(7.0
CU) |
| Fieldwork |
|
(0.5
CU) |
| Term
III |
Term
III Courses |
(6.0
CU) |
Term Paper (Research oriented project of
ten weeks duration immediately after Term-III)
The
first Year FPM students are required to take up a research
oriented project work leading to Term Paper, under
guidance of a faculty member from their own area of
specialization. The students are required to identify the
faculty supervisor for this Term Paper. The same faculty
may continue as the thesis guide depending upon the mutual
interest. This project will carry 2.0 credit unit
equivalence.
The evaluation will be internal and criteria for
same will be developed by the FPM Committee. The Term
Paper should be a publishable
matter.
Second Year
(Advance courses, Case preparation
and finalization, Comprehensive Examination, Initiation
and formulation of Thesis Proposal)
Additional
advance
courses could also be introduced - Seminar based courses/
Courses of Independent Studies.
Electives during Term-IV to V have to be from the faculty
area of specialisation. The Chairperson FPM will
coordinate the floating of the advances electives,
including preparation of guidelines.
Term
IV
–
Three compulsory taught courses of 2.5 CU
& one elective
course of 1.0 CU.
n
Philosophy
of Management (0.5 credit unit)
n
Advanced
Research Methodology (1.0 credit
unit)
n
Sources
of Data base (1.0 credit unit)
In
addition students are expected to take minimum 3.0 credit
unit courses as elective courses from the advance elective
courses offered during the term. The Chairperson FPM will
coordinate the floating of the advances electives,
including preparation of guidelines.
Initiation of Case Preparation
Term
V - One compulsory taught course of 0.5 CU
& three elective courses of 1.0 CU
each.
v
Philosophy
of Science (0.5 credit unit)
In
addition students are expected to take minimum 3.0 credit
unit courses as elective courses from the advance elective
courses offered during the term. The Chairperson FPM will
coordinate thefloating of the advances electives,
including preparation of guidelines.
Finalization of Case
Comprehensive
Examination
After
completing the coursework, every student will be required
to take the comprehensive examination. Passing the
comprehensive examination is compulsory for all the
students. The main objective of this examination is to
test the student’s understanding and grasp of the courses
in an integral way. The CE is not to test knowledge of a
discrete collection of topics in the area. The
comprehensive examination consists of a test covering the
student’s major area. It is expected to be conducted after
the Term V (around mid of the second
year).
Comprehensive
Examination Committee (CEC)
The
FPM Chairperson, in consultation with the area faculty
constitutes a three member Comprehensive Examination
Committee (CEC) and nominates one of them as the
Chairperson. The Chairperson of the CEC takes the
responsibility for administering the Comprehensive
Examination for a student. To pass the CE, the majority of
the committee members should declare the student’s
performance as satisfactory. The component of the CE could
be a combination of written
and oral
test.
Term
VI
- Initiation
and
formulation of thesis proposal
Thesis
Proposal Defense in seminar
If
required, then revision of Thesis Proposal based on
feedback
Start of Thesis
Work
Minimum
Academic requirement for taught subjects
It
will be governed by FPM Academic Rules and Regulations.
Minimum
level of expected performance in course work will be the
same as that of PGDFM program during term I,II and III.
However,
the students should maintain atleast ‘C’ grade in the
courses during term IV and V.
Case
Preparation
FPM
student is expected to develop a case during the Second
year based on the preliminary research. The case would be
evaluated by the CEC and each student must obtain a
satisfactory grade otherwise the case has to be revised
till it reaches upto a stage of satisfaction. However, it
will not carry any credits. Such cases prepared during FPM
programme can be used by IIFM faculty for IIFM academic
programme, depending upon their suitability.
Cases
can be published by the students
Third
Year
Thesis
Work, Research /Teaching Assignments
Participation
in Research/Teaching work
Each
of the doctoral students would be expected to provide
assistance in research/teaching work of the Institute as a
FPM scholar during the third and fourth years of study.
This will provide them an opportunity to apply the
research skills.
Fourth
Year
Thesis
Work, Research/Teaching Assignments, Pre-thesis submission
seminar, Publication of two research articles, Thesis
submission and defense
Residential requirements
Residential
requirements for the first two years are compulsory. Remaining two
years will be decided by the Institute on case to case
basis.
The
TAC can allow the students to work outside the IIFM campus
during third and fourth year, provided the student should
not take up any part time or full time job / any other
activity not related to thesis.
The working executives also have to spend initial two
years as fully residential scholar. However, the students
are required to come to IIFM during 3rd and 4th year as
and when required, if given permission to stay
outside/going back to their parent organization for the
deputed students.
Thesis
Should
be a scholarly work related to contribution to the
understanding and resolution of management problems.
Should
demonstrate professional competence in developing a model
or a set of hypotheses, collecting and
interpreting data, reaching conclusions, and
drawing the implications for research and managerial
practice.
Thesis
Proposal
Start
working on the thesis proposal soon after joining the
Programme. However, every student would be expected to
submit the thesis proposal at the earliest after passing
the comprehensive examination.
The
thesis proposal has to be successfully defended by the
student in a Seminar.
During
the second year, the FPM student should
identify, a thesis advisor who will guide him/her as
Chairperson in his/her Thesis Advisory Committee
(TAC).
The
FPM Chairperson appoints the TAC in consultation with the
thesis advisor.
Change in the Topic of Thesis Proposal
after approval
If
a student chooses to change the topic of the thesis
proposed, on convincing reasons, Chairperon-FPM can allow
the change only once but the student has to go through the
whole process of thesis proposal approval
again.
Thesis Advisory Committee
(TAC)
The
TAC consists of three members - Thesis advisor and two
other members are from the related areas of
specialization.
The
members are chosen to contribute to the thesis research in
a complementary manner and to provide help in literature
search, research design, model construction, fieldwork,
and data analysis.
An
expert or an academician from outside of IIFM can also be
member of the committee provided he/she has the requisite
expertise and interest to advise the
student.
If
the circumstances demand, including those arising out of
inability of any member of TAC to perform the assigned
functions, the FPM Chairperson may, in consultation with
the Chairperson of the TAC, can reconstitute the TAC, for
smooth functioning.
In
case TAC chairperson is likely to be unavailable for
continuously long period of time, the TAC can be
reconstituted at any point of time as per the need.
The role of TAC includes the following
·
To
advise and give feedback to the student regarding thesis
work on continuous basis.
· Judging
the adequacy of research design for Thesis
Proposal
· Attending
thesis seminar to be presented by the student and to
provide feedback
· Providing
written feedback on the draft thesis submitted by the
student
Thesis Proposal Seminar
When
the TAC agrees on the adequacy of the research design, the
student formulates a preliminary thesis proposal and gives
a seminar on the proposal to the institute’s academic
community for getting further inputs to strengthen the
thesis proposal.
The
student should give at least two week’s notice to the FPM
Office for arranging the seminar, in the interest of
better participation from the institute’s academic
community.
Approval and Submission of Thesis
Proposal
A
thesis proposal is approved only after the student has
given the thesis proposal seminar and the TAC concludes
that the subject appears researchable in the way it has
been proposed.
TAC
will ascertain that the proposed field work is likely to
produce the required data and the analytical methodology
if adequately carried out will produce an acceptable
thesis, and the student is ready for doing full scale
research.
The
student submits to the FPM Chairperson a copy of the
thesis proposal approved by the TAC latest by the end of
2nd Academic year (1st academic year
for the students who are exempted for the first year
courses), failure to stick to the dates (30th
March) will be considered as “unsatisfactory performance”
and the fellowship will be affected as per rules.
Publication of two research articles :
Pre-requisite for Thesis Defense
Before
submitting the doctoral draft thesis, students will be
required to have at least two-research articles’
acceptance for publication in a Journal/ Conference
proceedings based on their research
work.
Students
will get credit for presenting and publishing research
articles in the national /international seminars/
conferences.
The
joint authorship with the Thesis Advisor is also
acceptable, provided the student should be the first
Author
Draft Thesis
The
student should submit one copy of the approved draft
thesis duly signed by the TAC members to the FPM
office.
Thesis Seminar
After
completing all the requirements and before submitting the
final thesis for defense, the student presents a seminar
on the research to disseminate the findings to stimulate
research work in the area. The seminar also provides an
opportunity to obtain feedback from the institute’s
academic community including the TAC towards better
presentation and findings. The student should give at
least two weeks notice to the FPM office for
arranging the seminar in the interest of better
participation from the institute’s academic community.
Final thesis submission
After
incorporating all the suggestions provided in the Thesis
Seminar, the student submits the final thesis along with
signed approval forms by all the TAC members to the FPM
Office.
Thesis Examination
Committee
When
a student is ready to submit his/her 6 copies of thesis
work, requests the FPM Chairperson to appoint the Thesis
Examination Committee (TEC). The FPM committee appoints
the TEC, consisting of one member of the TAC (in
consultation with the Chairperson TAC) and two eminent
external experts, to be taken from experts’ list submitted
by the TAC Chairperson.
TAC
Chairperson will submit a panel of five external experts
with complete contact
details.
The
role of TEC includes:
v
Examining
the thesis work
v
Conducting
an oral thesis defense examination (any one of the
external expert can
be
invited to conduct the oral examination).
Award
of Title
The
student shall complete the following requirements before
qualifying for the award of the
title:
v
Submission
of required number of copies of the thesis and abstracts
as per guidelines.
v
Obtain
clearance form from various functionaries of the institute
as per guidelines.
For
getting the award, at least two members of TEC should
declare the student’s thesis work is satisfactory and
recommend for the award of fellowship of IIFM.
On
the contrary, if two TEC members reject the thesis, then
the case will be referred to FPM Committee to take further
decision, including re-submission of thesis, after
incorporating modifications/improvement.
On
qualifying for the award of the title, students become
eligible to receive the title of “Fellow of the Indian
Institute of ForestManagement, Bhopal”.
A
provisional certificate can be given on the student’s
request to this effect.
Exceptional cases
Exceptional
cases, which are not covered by these regulations, will be
referred by the Chairperson of the TAC to the FPM
Chairperson for consideration. The FPM committee will take
the final decision on any referred matter.
